VANCOUVER — Nicklas Jensen and Eddie Lack to the rescue! Tell us you saw those knights wearing shining armor when this season began for the Vancouver Canucks.

With Jensen scoring and Lack saving, the National Hockey League team halted for at least one night the doomsday clock ticking ever louder on the Canucks' tumultuous season. Jensen scored the winner at 6:06 of the third period and Lack made 30 saves for his fourth shutout as Vancouver beat the Nashville Predators 2-0. Thank goodness for rookies.

After allowing 25 goals in seven games since being forced into a starting role with the trade of Roberto Luongo, Lack knew he had to do better. And Jensen, well, he didn't know any better when he was summoned from the minor-league Utica Comets two weeks ago and spontaneously became Little Mr. Sunshine among teammates dispirited by the worst Canuck winter since the 1990s.

That energy and enthusiasm re-energized struggling first-liners Henrik Sedin and Alex Burrows, which in turn lit up the rest of the dressing room.

The standings are still bleak, but the room no longer is.

“I think anytime you have a guy on a roll – it doesn't matter who it is – teammates see it and feed off of it,” Jensen said. “To be able to bring my offensive ability from the American League to here, that's huge for me but also for our team.

“(But) just because you're on a bit of a roll doesn't mean you're a full-time NHL player. I need to show up every night and prove I belong here, not just for now but for next season, too. But the most important thing is to try to help this team get into the playoffs.”

Yes, well, that's a big burden for any 21-year-old.

Wednesday's win nudged the Canucks back within three points of the eighth-place Phoenix Coyotes, who hold the final wildcard berth for the Western Conference playoffs. But Phoenix has played three fewer games than Vancouver. The Dallas Stars are a point ahead of the Canucks and have four games in-hand.

Beating Nashville was merely clearing the launch tower on a mission to Jupiter. There is a long, long way to go – probably another eight or nine wins minimum from Vancouver's final 10 games. But at least they have liftoff.

“After the Olympic break, we started to play like the team we were before Christmas,” Sedin said, although the initial bottom line of winning and losing doesn't support his assertion. “We played great for 50 games, but those 15-20 games in between. . . it's not a good feeling right now knowing where we could be and should be in the standings. But you can't look back. If we keep playing like this, we're going to string together wins.”

They haven't strung together two since Jan. 21. They must match that streak Sunday when the last-overall Buffalo Sabres visit the Canucks.

“We have to believe we're not that far off,” Sedin continued. “We're three points behind with a lot of games in-hand for the other teams. But as long as we're in it, we're going to keep believing.”

Sedin's pass was collected by Jensen and zipped past Nashville goalie Carter Hutton's glove from about 30 feet to break the goal-less stalemate.

Only 73 seconds later, long, lost Canuck defenceman Alex Edler's unscreened point shot skipped past Hutton's left pad to double the lead and help the Canucks cling to the playoff race.

“I was just trying to release it quick,” Jensen said after his third goal in four games. “I like to go upstairs because a lot of goalies are butterfly goalies and that's one of the areas you can shoot at.”

Just as there were no moral victories for the Canucks when they lost two games they could have won and went 2-2 on a road trip that ended Monday in Tampa, there are no style-point deductions for wins during a crisis.

There wasn't anything stylish about Wednesday's game between two of the lowest-scoring teams in hockey.

For much of the first two periods, it looked like a lumberjack competition as the teams chopped and hacked the puck back and forth, unable to find space or a teammate. Two clean passes in a row were an achievement.

Until the game was half over, the Canucks struggled to sustain any offensive-zone pressure against a Predator team that was blitzed 5-1 by the Edmonton Oilers the previous night.

The reappearance in the lineup of mystery-injured centre Brad Richardson helped the third line and the Canucks' reborn first unit had threatening moments. The Canucks got stronger as the game progressed and in the third period – the site of so much carnage for Vancouver this season – they found a way to win.

“It's hard, guys, coming off that road trip,” Canuck coach John Tortorella said. “It's easy to say, 'Yeah, just get yourself ready.' But it takes a toll on the athletes. I really liked how our guys handled themselves. We got out of that first period without getting hurt. I thought that gave us a chance to try to find our way.”

They're on their way but Jupiter is still way out there.

ICE CHIPS: Key Canuck defenceman Chris Tanev, who broke two fingers blocking a Steve Stamkos shot on Monday, missed his first game and may miss the rest of the regular season. . . Burrows, chopped on his previously-injured left thumb by Nashville defenceman Shea Weber, managed to finish the game but his status for Sunday and beyond is unclear.

The Predators were the better team in the scoreless first period, outshooting the Canucks 14-7, but the second was more balanced with Vancouver out-shooting the Preds despite having to kill off penalties to Alex Edler and David Booth. The Canucks then struck for two early in the third, Nick Jensen and Edler on the power play 1:13 apart, to provide Eddie Lack with all the run support he needed. Lack finished with 30 saves for his fourth shutout. Vancouver was 1-for-1 on the PP and killed off all four Nashville power plays.

BY THE NUMBERS

The Canucks improved to 11-3-7 when tied after two periods while the Preds fell to 9-4-4... The Predators are the only team in the league who have not surrendered a shorthanded goal this season... Nashville, which entered the night tied for first in faceoff percentage, lived up to the billing, going 26-for-45 (58 per cent).... David Booth's amazing goal drought reached 32 games... Despite some empty seats, the Canucks announced another full house to extend their sellout streak at Rogers Arena to 466.

ODDS AND ENDS

Despite the fact neither the Canucks nor Predators figure to make the playoffs, and the trade deadline has long since past, five teams still had pro scouts at Wednesday's game – the Maple Leafs, Flyers, Canadiens, Rangers and Blues. Alain Vigneault's Rangers are the only team the Canucks will see again this season. They're here on April Fool's Day... Canuck centre Brad Richardson returned to the lineup Wednesday after missing seven games. His injury? “Upper body. That's what they told me to say.”

LOOKING AHEAD

The Canucks are scheduled to have Thursday off and return to practice Friday. On Saturday, they will stage their annual open practice, 11 a.m. at Rogers Arena, and then complete their brief two-game homestand Sunday against Cody Hodgson and the Buffalo Sabres. It will be Hodgson's second visit to Vancouver as a visiting player. The former Canuck first-rounder has 16 goals, seven of those on the power play, and 35 points for Buffalo but is a minus-25. Face off time for that one is 5 p.m.

...Elliott Pap

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